Catherine Danley, a second-year law student at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, has received honorable mention in the Environmental Law Institute’s 2016-2017 Henry L. Diamond Constitutional Environmental Law Writing Competition.
Danley’s winning entry, Water Wars: Original Jurisdiction & Solving Interstate Water Disputes Through an Appellate Process, will be published in the November 2017 issue of the Environmental Law Reporter (ELR®), ELI’s flagship journal and one of the most often-cited law journals covering environmental and natural resource issues.
Danley’s entry argues that as climate change exacerbates water shortages, the U.S. Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction to determine interstate disputes should be amended to allow for an appellate process that originates in lower courts.
“The paper addresses little-discussed but increasingly relevant aspects of the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction, in the context of an important current topic,” said Jay Austin, senior attorney at ELI and editor-in-chief for ELR.
Each year, the national competition invites law students to explore issues at the intersection of constitutional and environmental law. Entries received were judged by a panel of experienced attorneys. The competition was organized by ELI’s Program on the Constitution, Courts, and Legislation, and made possible through the generous support of the environmental law firm Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.